“Trace evidence on the bike?”
“Albanian paw prints all over. Also some GSR on the throttle, matches the residues at the scene, so we know the shooter was driving, but we knew that already.”
“Shell casings?” asked Blume.
“Yes. Two nine-millimeter shells.”
Blume tried to imagine the events. Alleva and Massoni fleeing toward the airport. The police standing in the car park like a bunch of shocked schoolgirls. Himself lying on the ground.
“No one went in pursuit?”
“We didn’t get the number plate, and we weren’t sure at first if there was just one motorbike or a car as well. Still aren’t. It seemed like two people were on it. We called in backup immediately. But there was no interception of the bike.”
“OK. What about tracing cell phone signals? When was that done?”
“Immediately. A trace was put on Alleva’s phone immediately,” said Paoloni.
“When you say immediately…” began Blume.
“I mean it. Within minutes. More or less at the same time as we called in backup.”
“Because you had his cell number,” said Blume.
“You can check that,” said Paoloni. “My call giving Alleva’s number was made before the ambulances came. I did it as soon as I thought about it, which was almost immediately. Within a minute.”
“And the result?”
“They located Alleva’s phone at home.”
“When they check the provider’s logs, your number will be there,” said Blume.
“I know that,” said Paoloni. He started to say something else, but then stopped.
“What?” said Blume. “You’re thinking it would be easy enough to justify your call to Alleva without having to admit to tipping him off? Sure it would-but now you’re asking me to say nothing. It’s a big ask.”
“I know… But there’s something else.” Paoloni bent his head down and mumbled something.
“Beppe, is there someone under my bed?”
“What? No.”
“Then raise your head so I can hear you. What did you just say?”
“That Alleva called me.”
“I thought you called him.”
“No. I mean afterwards. After the killing. Alleva called me. He called me the day after.”
24
Blume kept his voice level. “Where was Alleva calling from?” he asked.
“I don’t know. He was being careful. He began by telling me one radio mast was all I’d get. He didn’t move position to make it difficult to trace. Also, he obscured the number.”
“What did he say?”
“Three things. One, that he didn’t pull the trigger. Two, that he never imagined anything like this would happen. And three, that he was sending the killer, Massoni, straight to us. He said to expect Massoni to come up the Via Casilina in an SUV in about half an hour. He also said he would call back when we had Massoni in custody. But surprise, surprise. Massoni never came driving up the road.”
“What did you say to him?”
“I said we would get him anyhow. And I told him he would probably not live long.”
“Then what did you do?”
“First I put out an alert to get Massoni picked up. I mentioned who the suspect was, just to make sure the cars got there on time. Then I called the Holy Ghost and asked him to take charge of any arrests that might result from the tip-off.”
“Did he ask who the tip-off was from?”
“No, he didn’t. He never does. Even you don’t always ask.”
“It’s so often better not to know,” said Blume. “Then what did you do?”
“I contacted the technicians in the Padua interception center immediately, gave them my number, gave them the time and date of his call, told them it was highest priority.”
“And they accepted all that, from an inspector?”
“I told them it was to do with the killing of Ferrucci. They got back to me in two hours. They had not managed to triangulate Alleva’s location because he never moved, and the phone number disappeared from the network immediately after, along with the IMEI code for the phone. So he must have removed the battery, probably smashed the device. He’s being careful.”
“Not so careful that he didn’t make a call. They got no information at all?”
“No, they did. I was going to tell you. The call was made north of Rome, near Civitavecchia. It connected to a base transceiver station at the end of the Autostrada Azzurra, just above Civitavecchia. The radius is huge. Too big to work. And it was two days ago. He probably made the call, then destroyed the phone there.”
“I see that,” said Blume. “And you acted as quickly as you could? You reported contact between you and Alleva to the technical team?”
“Yes. Same as after the shooting. I don’t care what happens to me as long as Alleva and Massoni get caught.”
“But you do care what happens to you if they don’t get caught,” said Blume.
“I don’t follow.”
“Sure you do. I believe you when you say you’ll come clean if it means catching Alleva and Massoni, but you’d prefer not to, if possible.”
“Only if possible,” said Paoloni.
“Right. But there’s a corollary. If they don’t get caught, then you don’t want to get caught, either.”
Paoloni was frowning in concentration, as if Blume’s reasoning were new to him. “I suppose you’re right.”
“I need to believe that you put getting them into custody ahead of your career. If news of the tip-off comes out, I don’t see how you can continue working with other police.”
“The phone calls I made. I came here and told you. I’m doing what I can,” said Paoloni.
Blume nodded. “OK. So, you got this phone call the day after the shooting. What time?”
“Morning, ten seventeen to ten twenty. Less than three minutes. That’s what the technical report says.”
“There’s a report?”
“Yeah. They prepared a report. When they called me back to give me the information, they wanted to know who they could send the report to. They need authorization from a ranking officer or magistrate. I was hoping you could see to that.”
Blume thought about it. The report was proof that Paoloni had done what he could to find Alleva.
“OK. Maybe I can intercept the report before it lands on the wrong desk. At least we know he was still in the country. Even if he was in a port city.”
“It was only Civitavecchia,” said Paoloni.
“You don’t think Civitavecchia makes a good escape route?” said Blume.
“If you’re escaping to Sicily or Sardinia and don’t feel like you need to hurry, it’s perfect,” said Paoloni. “I think it’s just sheer chance he called from there.”
“Maybe it was deliberate misdirection. Still, there are ships to South America from there. Some ferries go to France, Corsica, Barcelona, or you could board a cruise ship going anywhere.”
“Not anywhere fast,” said Paoloni.
“Which is why the police don’t watch seaports as closely as airports,” said Blume. “I don’t know. Maybe he sailed away an hour later. Say he got to Corsica or Nice, he could have flown from an airport there, especially if he’s changing passports.”
“They.”
